Seinye, widow of Benson Lulu-Briggs, founder of Moni Pulo Limited, on Tuesday, opened up on the reason her stepson, is hell-bent on portraying her in a bad light.
The widow who made the remarks in a statement she issued to newsmen through her spokesperson, Oraye St. Franklyn stressed that her stepson is plotting to rubbish her husband’s legacy and undermine his last Will and testaments.
Her latest outcry is in reaction to a malicious publication published on Facebook on December 30, 2019, at 12:20 pm by a source close to her stepson, alleging that she murdered her husband – she shared certain documents putting to lie certain claims as well as described the report as totally untrue and a deliberate attempt targeted at maligning her person.
The statement reads: “The outrageous publication published on Facebook on December 30, 2019, at 12:20 pm alleging that Dr Mrs Seinye O. B. Lulu-Briggs murdered her husband, smuggled his remains to Ghana and deposited same in Ghana in the absence of his children is a false and malicious publication that defames her. She and her husband were on the trip to Ghana on the said date December 27, 2018, with two of his sons and a host of other persons. She believes that it is shameful that a chief would allow his media aide to refer to his father as dead at a time he knew he was well alive.
The said publication further states that the widow of High Chief O. B. Lulu-Briggs went to court to stop the children of the deceased from accessing the body of their father, her husband, for burial; that “she hurriedly organised an autopsy without following all the lawful procedures and guidelines meant to guarantee transparency that was ordered by the court”; that being “concerned about wealth, she read a certain ‘Will’ before burial, relocating companies and packing properties belonging to O. B. Lulu- Briggs to unknown destinations.”
Dr Mrs Seinye Lulu-Briggs categorically stated that all of the above allegations in the said publication “are untrue and part of a wicked plot by her stepson to cast her in a bad light and stigmatise her person as a wicked widow with the primary aim of rubbishing her husband’s legacy and undermining his Last Will and Testaments.”
Beyond taking the necessary legal action to protect herself against the serial, ill conceited acts of libel and defamation by acolytes of her stepson she wishes to reiterate the following:
1. Her husband, High Chief O. B. Lulu-Briggs, died in Accra, Ghana, on the 27th of December, 2018 shortly after arriving for his annual vacation.
2. All seven children of the High Chief were at the mortuary on the 29th of December, 2019. Thereafter the family including her stepson saw their father’s body at least two times. He has not denied that he arranged with the managers of the mortuary to make a casket with which to convey the body of his father for burial. He and his elder brother, returned to the mortuary and inspected the casket that was delivered there.
3. The allegation that Dr. Mrs Seinye Lulu-Briggs killed her husband, High Chief O. B. Lulu-Briggs, began after she was threatened by her stepson, right before his Pastor that if she didn’t give him four legacy assets namely: Moni Pulo Limited, Sombriero House (her matrimonial home), Rachael Hotel and the O. B. Lulu-Briggs Foundation he would go public with an allegation against her that she killed her husband.
4. Dr Mrs Seinye Lulu-Briggs told her stepson that he knew she didn’t kill her husband and that what he wanted would mean setting aside her husband’s Will. She reiterates that told him she had no powers to do so, that moreover, the Will provided for the well-being of his children, grandchildren and future generations, of whom his first son, is the only grandchild mentioned by name and bequeathed with a property in the Will. She, however, agreed to gift 50 per cent of her shares in Moni Pulo Limited to all seven children of High Chief O. B. Lulu-Briggs, which he demanded himself alone. He accepted the offer and later declined it in writing.
5. Dr. Mrs. Seinye Lulu-Briggs also told her stepson that most of his father’s assets were bequeathed to a Trust that he had set up by himself during his lifetime. As such, she had no powers to cancel the Trust and or redistribute the said properties as Dumo would have wished.
6. Failing to satisfy his untoward and unreasonable demands, he wrote a petition to the Nigerian police falsely alleging that she killed her husband.
7. He approached both the Police and a Magistrate Court in Ghana to organise an autopsy that did not provide representation for Dr Mrs Seinye Lulu-Briggs, who is accused of murdering her 88-year-old husband.
8. To protect herself and ensure the autopsy process was fair to all parties involved, ie. both the accused and the accuser, she went to court to ensure the autopsy process provided and guaranteed representation for her, her accuser the Nigerian Police and the Ghanaian Police and it was done.
9. Dr Mrs Seinye Lulu-Briggs and one of her stepsons had two representative pathologists each. The President of the Nigerian Medical Association was one of his representative Pathologists. To this day none of all the six Pathologists involved in the autopsy, including his representatives, has queried the process which was conducted by the Ghanaian Military at the 37 Military Hospital in Ghana.
10. The Ghanaian Police in a letter responding to a needless protest by her stepson given that the process didn’t go as he would have wanted (ie. as a private autopsy) confirmed to him that the autopsy was done according to the set standard.
11. Dr Mrs Seinye O. B. Lulu-Briggs has not moved a single property to an unknown location and has no need to do such.
12. Dr Mrs. Seinye has no desire to stop the burial of her husband. Her appeal against the judgment that ordered the Ghanaian Police and the mortuary to release her husband’s corpse for burial was because her stepson went to obtain the body without complying with any of the pre-conditions imposed on him by the court. She maintains that if he complies with the Court-ordered pre-conditions, her appeal will be withdrawn.
13. On the 3rd of June 2019, Moni Pulo was invaded by the Police based on a false petition. Workers were assaulted and properties were destroyed in the cause of the invasion. The operation was reminiscent of a similar invasion of the Company in 2002 during the lifetime of his father, High Chief O. B. Lulu- Briggs. The company has now taken measures to ensure such action is never repeated and that staff of the company receive the protection and safety they deserve in an environment that guarantees it.
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